Tintin Paperback Boxed Set 23 titles

by Hergé

For the first time, you can own all 23 stories in The Adventures of Tintin series in this fantastic boxed set. This is the perfect present for Tintin fans of all ages. Published to celebrate 90th anniversary of Tintin in 2019. Stories included in the set:
Tintin in the Land of the Soviets
Tintin in America
Cigars of the Pharaoh
The Blue Lotus
The Broken Ear
The Black Island
King Ottokar's Sceptre
The Crab with the Golden Claws
The Shooting Star
The Secret of the Unicorn
Red Rackham's Treasure
The Seven Crystal Balls
Prisoners of the Sun
Land of Black Gold
Destination Moon
Explorers on the Moon
The Calculus Affair
The Red Sea Sharks
Tintin in Tibet
The Castafiore Emerald
Flight 714 to Sydney
Tintin and the Picaros
Tintin and Alph-Art

Genres: Graphic Novels, Comics, Childrens

1552 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2018

About the author

Georges Prosper Remi (22 May 1907 – 3 March 1983), better known by the pen name Hergé, was a Belgian comics writer and artist.
His best known and most substantial work is The Adventures of Tintin comic book series, which he wrote and illustrated from 1929 until his death in 1983, leaving the twenty-fourth Tintin adventure Tintin and Alph-Art unfinished. His work remains a strong influence on comics, particularly in Europe.

"Hergé" is the pseudonym of George Remí, making a game with the initials of his name inverted. Throughout the evolution of his star character, Tintin, we can see the progress of this author: from the first titles marked by the ultraconservative doctrine of the director of the newspaper Le Petit Vingtième, to the breaking of conventions embodied from The Blue Lotus , as well as the evolution of the society of his time. The research carried out by Hergé to historically contextualize his Adventures, as well as his implicit social criticism, have made Tintin a masterpiece of the 20th century.

Series on Goodreads:
* The Adventures of Tintin
* Quick & Flupke
* The adventures of Jo, Zette and Jocko

Reviews

[Ryan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Hergé began writing these comics during the interwar period, though I first learned about Tintin watching the cartoon as a child. What makes these comics endure? The fashion stands up better than expected. Tintin's plus fours seem odd, but they work better than the pants he wears in Picaros. And, if anything, the plus fours seem to be coming back into style now, at least if my students are any judge of style. Tintin's jackets and Captain Haddock's sweater still look, well, pretty good. It's easy to point to things that don't work for today's critical audience. Aside from the opera singer Bianca Castafiore, I'm not sure there's another woman in the entire set--I'd bet there are fewer than five. Hergé's view of the modern world is very much of his time, warts and all. In the interwar years, he veers from the political right to the left. Tintin in the Congo is not included in this set, but his depiction of black men in the other stories has not aged well. At best, it seems charitable to say one feels he was raised in imperial Belgium. Later, Hergé matures, though his excitement over a world just a plane ride away remains. Captain Haddock often curses at his enemies, referring to them as anthropophagi and at one point as Polynesians. It's possible that these comics are well approached as capturing an enthusiasm for modernity. Hergé's ships, spaceships, motorcycles, submarines, and cars are always detailed and excitingly powerful or speedy. Whether it be the moon or buried treasure, it seems all possibilities are within the reach of this plucky band of friends.

[VVivacious · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was an impulse purchase.

The first comic book collection I bought was 'The Complete Calvin & Hobbes', which, now that I think about it, was also an impulse purchase. But having read every single one of those comics, I know it was well worth it. Calvin & Hobbes is amazing; it's definitely something I see myself reading at different points in my life. It's also finite in a way very few comic strips tend to be, which is probably a big reason why it is as good as it is.

Since a previous impulse purchase of comics had turned out to be worthwhile, I had a lower threshold to work with when buying this box set. In fact, I'm still a little surprised I bought it at all. But, reading through these comics made me realise that not only was Tintin a comic book I read while I was in school, but it's one of the cartoons that my brother watched consistently in our childhood, and some part of that has stuck with me enough that it explains what prompted me to buy this box set.

Reading through this box set, I realised that this comic book series tended to be incredibly formulaic, especially in the initial issues, but over time, the author-illustrator really diversified the scope of Tintin's adventures. At the beginning, each instalment more or less featured Tintin & Snowy constantly getting in and out of scrapes till the story ended, but the author moves away from this formula after a couple of issues to varying degrees of success. Unfortunately, the issues ('Destination Moon' & 'Explorers on the Moon') I was most excited for turned out to be the most boring and others I had little hope for turned out to be very entertaining.

I enjoyed my time reading it, but I recognise that at least a part of my enjoyment is fueled by nostalgia. While Tintin remains a classic with its beautiful art and memorable characters, I do fear that it didn't live up to my expectations, but having said that, this was always about reclaiming a part of my childhood, and I'm glad I got to do that.

Below are my brief thoughts on the individual issues:
1. Tintin in the Land of the Soviets: 3/5 - 29/6/2025

2. Tintin in America: 3/5 - 30/6/2025 - Surprisingly, on point portrayal of the treatment of Native Americans.

3. Cigars of the Pharaoh: 3/5 - 1/7/2025 - This had a rather convoluted plot. However, this is the first instalment that introduces recurring characters who will be fixtures in this series, most notably Thompson and Thomson.

4. The Blue Lotus: 4.5/5 -2/7/2025 - I was pleasantly surprised by how this story makes use of contemporaneous historical events. We have allusions to the opium trade, as well as the Japanese occupation of China. Surprisingly, the fabricated event to justify occupation, as well as the withdrawal of Japan from the League of Nations after the deceit was unveiled, are both events with a historical basis. It was really nice to see this issue take the time to address political events. I also really liked Tintin trying to reassure Chang about how the West and the East believe many falsehoods about the people who reside there, which are stereotypical but are not representative of the people themselves. This story, while fitting into the Tintin formula, experimented with its execution to deliver a novel entry in the series.

5. The Broken Ear: 3/5 - 2/7/2025 - The one in which Tintin does blackface, gets teleported, and hell is canonised while everyone's out to get Snowy's tail! I liked the depiction of how colonialism and capitalism work because it was a small, succinct part of the issue, but it was also the best part of it.

6. The Black Island: 3/5 - 2/7/2025 - Snowy stole the show in this one!

7. King Ottokar's Sceptre: 2/5 - 6/7/2025 - This was really boring. Also, can someone explain to me why the author decided to have someone call Tintin that they would be visiting him at half past eight and then proceed to faint when Tintin opened the door. It made no sense, and then the book didn't even try to offer up an explanation for that bizarre series of events.

8. The Crab with the Golden Claws: 3.5/5 - 6/7/2025 - Captain Haddock is in the house! Though I have got to say, that I'm really surprised by his characterisation. I certainly didn't remember him as an alcoholic who sabotages Tintin and himself when drunk and turns into the angriest of men when someone takes alcohol away from him, which is mostly played for hilarious effect. I'm curious to see how his character develops from here on out because I'm pretty sure his struggles with alcohol are going to be a defining feature for his character going forward. Captain Haddock and his antics are one of the biggest contributing factors to the fact that this is the most hilarious issue of Tintin yet. We also get full-page illustrations in this one which were just beautiful. Also, this is something unique about this issue; we have never had full-length illustrations in any of the issues before this one. I'm curious to see if we do get more of these in later issues, especially because the author did it thrice in this one and I loved it. I haven't commented a lot on the art of Tintin, and that's pretty criminal of me because it's probably one of the most recognisable comics in the world, and a large part of that is because of its beautiful art style.

9. The Shooting Star: 2/5 - 10/7/2025 - This is positively the tamest of Tintin's adventures; not once did he get gravely injured or come close to dying.

10. The Secret of the Unicorn: 3/5 - 11/7/2025 - For a story that basically works as an elaborate setup for the next issue, it was surprisingly fun to read.

11. Red Rackham's Treasure: 3.5/5 - 11/7/2025 - I talked about Tintin being very formulaic, and it is, but with the recent issues, the author is definitely taking another approach to Tintin's adventures. Like with this book, which is more of a fun adventure than a derring-do one, and I liked it. We are going treasure hunting, which is a more serene experience than I would have expected from Tintin, but I truly had a wonderful time reading it. This is also the first issue with four supporting characters that make up the iconic cast of Tintin - we have Haddock, Thomson and Thompson, and Professor Caculus. Just like Haddock's introduction in 'The Crab with the Golden Claws', Calculus's introduction in this book was a source of a lot of hilarity. I had a lot of fun.

12. The Seven Crystal Balls: 2/5 - 11/7/2025 - I take it back, 'The Secret of the Unicorn' isn't just an elaborate setup for the next issue, 'The Seven Crystal Balls' is. The former was so good, it had an actual plot independent of the fact that the plot was also setting up to 'Red Rackham's Treasure', not so much with this one because we just get a whole bunch of questions with no resolution whatsoever.

13. Prisoners of the Sun: 2/5 - 12/7/2025 - This entire story arc has been lacklustre at best.

14. Land of Black Gold: 2/5 - 14/7/2025 - Enough said.

15. Destination Moon: 2/5 - 16/7/2025 - The problem with this entire storyline is that not only does it have very little to do with Tintin, but that, besides a few elaborate gags, there is nothing going on in this story. The plot basically amounts to - we're building a rocket to the moon, but there is a saboteur in our midst. Who could it be? Who cares! We're off to the moon, to find out what happens next, read the next issue.

16. Explorers on the Moon: 1.5/5 - 17/7/2025 - The fact that this story is so boring despite being set in literal space is a crime. Also, can the adventures of Tintin go back to being the adventures of TINTIN? I want to read about Tintin the investigative reporter, not Tintin the radio operator.

17. The Calculus Affair: 2.5/5 - 31/7/2025 - Atleast we are back to actually being the adventures of Tintin.

18. The Red Sea Sharks: 3/5 - 31/7/2025 - Tintin participates in a little obstruction of justice and also helps take down slave traders.

19. Tintin in Tibet: 3/5 - 1/8/2025 - This one was really good, I loved all the historical details, though the probability of a Nepali man speaking Hindi is highly unlikely. Despite that slip-up, I was honestly surprised by how grammatically correct the Hindi used in this issue is.

20. The Castafiore Emerald: 4/5 - 1/8/2025 - Oh, this was such a good one.

21. Flight 714 to Sydney:3.5/5 - 1/8/2025 - This has to be the most paranormal of Tintin's adventures to date. The stories do tend to veer into that particular realm occasionally (notably 'The Seven Crystal Balls'), but this one really embraced it. Even though I tend to dislike the more paranormal outings in this series, the fact that this one just careens full speed ahead into that absurdity made for a fun time.

22. Tintin and the Picaros: 3.5/5 - 1/8/2025

23. Tintin and Alph-Art: -/5 - 1/8/2025 - This is the last adventure of Tintin, which was left incomplete upon Hergé's death, and as such, this issue provides a legible rendition of the part of the story that Hergé had outlined. From what we get to read of it, it was sure to have been an adventure worthy of being added to this collection.

[Hamish · Rating 4 out of 5]

This has brought me a lot of joy over the past few months.

[Cee Jackson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Maybe it is s a little weird, a sixty-three year old reading and commenting on the Tintin series of books, but hey – why not? These books take me back to my childhood and there is a lovely innocence about them.

I actually bought the full twenty-three book box set a few months ago and am gradually working my way through them. (I know – more money than sense, probably.) Interestingly, with present day PC / ‘woke’ attitudes, to complete the full set of books, I had to purchase ‘Tintin In The Congo’ as a separate edition, the producers of the box set probably not keen on reproducing stereo-typical images and language from less informed times.

The first book in the series, though, is ‘In The Land Of The Soviets.’ from 1929 and appeared initially in the children’s section of the Belgian newspaper, Le Vingtieme Siecle. Tintin author Herge, had just been employed as an artist for the paper, and although he had not been to Russia himself, he was inspired by a book he had read the previous year to write the story line highlighting the Soviet propaganda machine,

The artwork is monochrome and pretty basic, with no more than six image panels to a page, resulting in this book being longer, certainly as far as pages go (141) than any of those subsequent.


Of course, the language is very ‘stiff upper lip’ quaint and pours ridicule and scorn on the Soviet Union and all it stood for. Ironically, in doing so, the book could stand accused of pushing propaganda on behalf of ‘the West.’ It’s all jolly good fun though.

The second Tintin book is the one mentioned earlier – ‘Tintin In The Congo.’ It does not even merit a mention in the box set of paperbacks. The copy I have is a ‘Collector’s Edition’ hardback that ‘completes the series of twenty four Tintin adventures by Herge.’ It is published by Casterman, as opposed to Egmont who ran with the rest.

The story once again appeared in serialised newspaper form, in 1931, then published as a book a short time after. The book’s foreward states the following:
‘In his portrayal of the Belgian Congo, the young Herge reflects on the colonial attitudes of the time. he himself admitted that he depicted the African people according to the bourgeois, paternalistic stereotypes of the period – an interpretation that some of today’s readers may find offensive. The same could be said of his treatment of big game hunting.’

Yeah – I can see why some may consider the book to be inappropriate nowadays. Personally, I’m certain the author had no intention of causing offense, but it was a good idea to withdraw this adventure from the box set and not ‘force’ it upon buyers keen to read all the other stories. This way the curious and ‘completists’ like myself can still access the book, and in the prior knowledge that it could be upsetting.

In some respects, those put off by the attitudes evidenced in the ‘Congo’ book could also find offence in some of the depictions in the third book, ‘Tintin In America,’ originally published in 1932.

This adventure sees Tintin confront danger at the hands of ‘the mob’ and also native Indians. Already, the storylines have a good deal familiarity with those already read, but (forgetting they were written for children) they are still good fun!


‘Cigars Of The Pharaoh‘ sees the introduction of the Thomson Twins – two bowler hatted, policemen who have the knack of messing things up. At this point, we know of them only as the police numbers, X33 and X33A and it is a few tales down the line before we we are made aware of their surname. I believe they appear in all but one of the following storylines.


From the title and cover artwork, I fully expected this adventure to be centred around Egypt, but as it happens, most of the action I would say takes place in India, which i did find a little strange. No ‘spoilers’ here, but I was interested to read about a present day world problem being an issue back in the times of this tale too..

Well – that’s four down, twenty to go! I have to say, I’m actually enjoying these books. I don’t remember owning any of these as a kid, but have vivid and fond memories of reading them / borrowing them from my local library.

This box set I now have, comprise the larger, glossy, paperback versions. They are bold and colourful, produced on good quality paper. At £89 (at time I bought) from Amazon, it’s not a cheap purchase. Broken down though into an average book cost of £3.87, then that changes the perspective totally, and in my opinion, well worth the outlay.

(From time to time, I will post further brief comments on the others in the series.)

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[Lazlo Nibble]

Beware of counterfeits! Mine turned out to be one. It was actually a relief…I hated the idea that the official editions had been that badly downgraded when they digitally re-lettered them to match the original Belgian editions. Telltale signs: Tintin’s skin tone is noticeably darker than the background on the box artwork; interiors have faded color, weaker blacks, pixelation and gaps on typeset text (newspaper articles, etc.), and obvious moiré in many places; paper thin enough to shrink the thickness of the overall box by almost an inch.

I bought the set to fill the gaps in what I’d picked up over the years but may just track down the remaining titles in the wild; it’s more fun that way anyway.

[Fraser · Rating 5 out of 5]

Interesting, the ISBN is for the boxed set only, each individual book within it does not have their own entry.

I suppose I will have to review under another English language paperback edition for the individual books.

A great boxed set, which thankfully I got at a discount.

As far as I can tell it contains all the Tintin books except for Tintin in the Congo and as somebody who owns Tintin in the Congo I can tell you that that is no great loss!

As well as the Tintins you expected it also contains the B&W Tintin in the Land of the Soviets and TinTin Alph-art.

If you are a fan of Tintin, then this is for you.

[Jheelam Nodie · Rating 5 out of 5]

All time favourite

[Bikalpa Pokhrel · Rating 4 out of 5]

Loved this in my school days. I re-read some when I get time. Tintin in Tibet has to be my favourite as I am from Nepal and the story features my country.